Larson. 96, who lives in Martinez, California, wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make the trip after the Army turned down a request from his son to sponsor it. That's when Larson’s friends jumped in to help turn his dream of making the trip a reality.

“He was devastated to find out that the Army will not sponsor him due to the fact all of his military records were destroyed in a fire in 1970,” wrote family friend Linda Linnell who set up a GoFundme page to finance the trip.

Thanks to the generosity of both his friends and people he doesn’t know, more than $10,250 was raised to send Larson and his son to France this summer.